Washington Free Beacon » Cristina Kirchnerhttp://freebeacon.com
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 21:37:53 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.2CBS: Massive Protest in Argentina One Month After Nisman Murder, ‘Possible Terrorism Coverup’http://freebeacon.com/issues/cbs-massive-protest-in-argentina-one-month-after-nisman-murder-possible-terrorism-coverup/
http://freebeacon.com/issues/cbs-massive-protest-in-argentina-one-month-after-nisman-murder-possible-terrorism-coverup/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 15:09:37 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=393457The Argentine government is under new pressure as massive protests erupt one month after the death of Alberto Nisman. Nisman was investigating the countries largest terrorist attack on a Jewish community center that killed hundreds.

As part of his investigation, Nisman had begun to suspect a possible government coverup of an Iranian agent. President Cristina Kirchner had first said that Nisman’s death was a suicide but has since changed her story to say it was a rogue agency. Nisman was shot in the head one day before issuing a warrant for Kirchner’s arrest.

Solidarity protests have appeared throughout the United States, most notably in New York City in front of the Argentine consulate. On Wednesday, Kirchner told the world to “butt out” of the investigation.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/issues/cbs-massive-protest-in-argentina-one-month-after-nisman-murder-possible-terrorism-coverup/feed/0Ellison’s Must Read of the Dayhttp://freebeacon.com/blog/ellisons-must-read-of-the-day-nisman-death/
http://freebeacon.com/blog/ellisons-must-read-of-the-day-nisman-death/#commentsTue, 27 Jan 2015 18:20:46 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?post_type=blog&p=384847My must read of the day, “Argentinian government moves to dissolve domestic intelligence agency,” in the Guardian:

Argentina’s president announced a major shakeup of her country’s intelligence network on Monday in her most combative step yet to address the fallout from the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.

In her first televised address since the prosecutor’s body was found at his apartment on 18 January, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said she would support a bill to dissolve the existing structure—which employs more than 2,000 people—and replace it with a new federal intelligence agency.

Alberto Nisman had a 289-page report that he said showed the Iranian and Argentine government colluded in covering up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos, Aires, that left 85 people dead.

Nisman says he had this evidence, and less than a week later he’s killed hours before he was scheduled to present the report to the Argentine Congress.

First, investigators said the death was likely suicide and a third party wasn’t involved. They said the door to his apartment was locked from the inside and a single bullet, fired from a gun that was to lent to him by a friend, killed Nisman.

But then, there were questions as to whether or not the door was locked, and it turned out there were multiple ways a person could gain access to the apartment. Test for gunpowder on Nisman’s hand, which would presumably suggest he pulled the trigger, came back negative—but the investigator says that could be because the bullet was a low caliber.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner first agreed that it was a suicide, but then changed her opinion and said it was likely foul play. However, she thinks it’s a set up and someone in the intelligence agency carried it out in an effort to frame her.

Kirchner is now dismantling the intelligence agency, and the journalist who first reported Nisman’s death has fled the country.

It all sounds like a scene from The Untouchables, and it surprisingly has remained a back-page item.

This story is sensational, seemingly made for cable and primetime news, yet for the past week each time I turn my television on this is not the story I see.

It should be everywhere, because this is newsworthy. This is not just a crazy story out of Argentina that only matters to Argentinians and the community impacted by the 1994 attack—it matters for U.S. policy.

The U.S. government is trying to negotiate a deal over Iran’s nuclear program; Congress is debating whether to pass legislation that would increase sanctions if those talks fail—but only a few people think it’s worthwhile to discuss the suspicious death of a prosecutor who was planning to present potentially damaging evidence of the Iranian governments involvement in Argentina’s biggest terrorist attack?

It is absurd, almost farcical, behavior.

It would be irresponsible to accuse Iran, or anyone—an individual or a government—of murder without concrete evidence. No one should do that, but that doesn’t mean the issue should be ignored. This warrants a lot of questions, and it’s problematic that both the media and the U.S. government are largely acting as if it doesn’t.

The Iranian government has a history of carrying out sophisticated assassinations.

In 1991, Shapour Bakhtiar, a former Iranian Prime Minister and advocate for democracy, was strangled and stabbed in his Paris home. French investigators tied the plot to “government ministries in Tehran.”

Ultimately, Bakhtiar’s murder was one of many tied to the Iranian government. Most of them occurred over 20 years ago, but the Ayatollah—the man who actually controls the country—is the same guy from back then. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989.

There are two logical questions to ask immediately after a possible homicide, especially one that appears to be calculated:

1. Who would have a motive to do it?

2. Who would have the means to carry it out?

In the case of Nisman’s suspicious death, Iran is a potential answer for both.

We don’t know what happened to Nisman, but U.S. officials should have been the first to press Argentina and Iran about it. They are failing to do that, and the media is failing to adequately call them on it.

The disregard of Nisman’s death is negligent, in general, because we know the Iranian government’s past. It’s especially negligent to ignore when there are currently ongoing negotiations between the U.S. government and Tehran—and that should be an incredibly obvious statement.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/blog/ellisons-must-read-of-the-day-nisman-death/feed/0Argentine Prosecutor: Rouhani Involved in AMIA Bombing Decisionhttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-prosecutor-rouhani-involved-in-amia-bombing-decision/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-prosecutor-rouhani-involved-in-amia-bombing-decision/#commentsMon, 26 Jan 2015 16:10:40 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=384061An Argentine prosecutor who died mysteriously last week told a reporter prior to his death that he had evidence tying Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

The WashingtonFree Beacon first reported that Rouhani was part of the secretive Iranian government committee that approved the AMIA bombing, according to witness testimony included in a 500-page indictment written by the late Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was appointed to investigate the attack.

The bombing, which killed 85 and injured hundreds, is believed to have been authorized by Iran and carried out by its terror proxy Hezbollah. Nisman’s indictment implicated numerous high-profile Iranian officials in the attack and prompted Interpol to issue “red notices” for their arrests.

Nisman, who was found shot in the head in his apartment just hours before he was scheduled to provide testimony against Argentine President Cristina Kirchner last Monday, had denied the Free Beacon story in 2013 and suggested that Rouhani played no role in the attack.

“There is no evidence, according to the AMIA case file, of the involvement of Hassan Rouhani in any terrorist attack,” Nisman told the Times of Israel in response to the article.

However, Nisman said privately he had evidence that Rouhani was involved in the decision to authorize the bombing, according to Miami Herald reporter Andres Oppenheimer.

Nisman told Oppenheimer that Rouhani was on the committee that green-lighted the attack. “Nobody is pointing out that Rouhani participated in the decision of the AMIA attack,” wrote Nisman in a July 2013 email.

“In several telephone conversations and email exchanges I had with Nisman over the past three years, the prosecutor told me that Rouhani was among the top Iranian officials who had ‘participated in the decision’ to bomb the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires,” Oppenheimer wrote after Nisman’s death.

Sources told the Free Beacon in 2013 that Nisman was under intense political pressure from the Argentine government due to his AMIA investigation. Argentina has worked to build relations with Iran under President Kirchner.

Earlier this month, Nisman accused Kirchner of impeding investigations into Iran’s role in the AMIA bombing in exchange for lucrative trade deals. Nisman was found dead from a gunshot to the head in his apartment hours before he was scheduled to present evidence of his allegations against Kirchner to Argentine lawmakers.

Kirchner initially said the death was a suicide. She now says she believes Nisman was killed by a “rogue” government agent.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-prosecutor-rouhani-involved-in-amia-bombing-decision/feed/0Mystery Surrounding Argentine Prosecutor’s Suicide Deepenshttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/mystery-surrounding-argentine-prosecutors-suicide-deepens/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/mystery-surrounding-argentine-prosecutors-suicide-deepens/#commentsWed, 21 Jan 2015 17:05:59 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=381850JERUSALEM—The mystery surrounding the alleged suicide of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman in Buenos Aires on Sunday, the eve of his scheduled airing of charges against the country’s president, deepened Wednesday when investigators revealed there were no traces of gunpowder on Nisman’s hand and no suicide note.

Nisman, who had been investigating the bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, was found dead Sunday in his 13th-floor apartment with a single gunshot wound to his head. Alongside his body was a .22 caliber pistol. The door to the apartment was locked from the inside. Authorities said his death was an apparent suicide, a finding that was met with widespread skepticism.

Nisman had told acquaintances in recent weeks that his life was in danger, and a police detail was posted outside the luxury high-rise building in which he lived.

“I might get out of this dead,” he said as recently as Saturday.

Eighty-five people were killed in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center. The initial investigation pointed to strong Iranian logistical involvement with the actual attack carried out by Hezbollah operatives and directed by the organization’s military leader, Imad Mughniyeh. However, the investigation bogged down and Nisman was appointed by then President Néstor Kirchner, as special prosecutor.

Nisman filed a 300-page complaint last week, alleging that Kirchner’s widow and successor as president, Cristina, sought to whitewash the Iranian involvement in exchange for stronger trade relations with Iran, including cheap oil. Nisman also implicated Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman in the alleged arrangement. Nisman was to testify Monday morning behind closed doors before a committee of the Argentine congress. Friends described him as a positive personality, not given to suicidal thoughts. Among the papers found in his apartment was a note to his maid on what to do when she cleaned the house Monday.

When Nisman’s death was revealed, thousands of the city’s residents gathered outside the presidential palace, some holding signs reading “Cristina murderer.”

Some Jewish circles noted that Nisman, who was Jewish, died just a few hours after an Israeli air strike near the Golan Heights killed Iranian and Hezbollah figures, including Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, the mastermind behind the community center bombing.

Nisman, who is survived by two daughters, had expressed concern about his own possible assassination even before the helicopter attack that took the life of the younger Mughniyeh. It is not clear whether he was concerned about an attack from Argentinians involved in the mooted deal with Iran or Iranians.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – The Argentine prosecutor who accused President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of orchestrating a cover-up in the investigation of Iran over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center has been found dead in his apartment, authorities said on Monday.

Alberto Nisman, who had been delving into the blast at the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, said last Wednesday Kirchner had opened a secret back channel to a group of Iranians suspected of planting the bomb.

He had said the scheme intended to clear the suspects so Argentina could start swapping grains for much-needed oil from Iran, which denies any connection with the bombing.

“Alberto Nisman was found dead on Sunday night in his flat on the 13th floor of the tower Le Parc, in the Buenos Aires district of Puerto Madero,” the Argentine Security Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said Nisman’s security guards had alerted his mother on Sunday afternoon that he was not answering his front door or phone, and the Sunday papers were still on his doorstep.

Nisman’s mother found the door to his flat locked from the inside and had to get a locksmith to open it. She found her son’s body on the floor of the bathroom, blocking the entrance, and called the police.

“Next to Nisman’s body … a 22-calibre handgun was found, together with a bullet casing,” the ministry statement said.

Nisman, who local media said was 51, had been due to take part in a closed-door hearing in parliament on Monday to explain his accusations against Kirchner.

The Clarin daily reported that just a few days earlier, he had told the newspaper, “I could end up dead because of this.” Nisman, in a separate TV interview, had also been considering agreeing to have his security detail increased.

AUTOPSY PLANNED

“In the coming days we will determine the cause of death with an autopsy,” prosecutor Viviana Fein told journalists gathered at the scene in the early hours. “I ask for seriousness, I ask for prudence.” Lawmaker Patricia Bullrich told television channel TN that members of parliament would meet on Monday morning to discuss the situation.

The judge handling the case of the 1994 bombing criticized Nisman late last week for taking it upon himself to “initiate an investigation without judicial control” and said the evidence he put forth was flawed.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday mourning Nisman’s death and urging Argentine authorities to carry on his work.

Argentine courts have accused Iran of sponsoring the 1994 bombing, a charge the Islamic Republic denies. In 2007, Argentine authorities secured Interpol arrest warrants for five Iranians and a Lebanese over the bombing.

In 2013, Kirchner tried to form a “truth commission” with Iran to jointly investigate. She said at the time that the pact would reactivate the inquiry, but Israel and Jewish groups said the move threatened to derail criminal prosecution of the case.

The truth commission pact was struck down by an Argentine court and never ratified by Iran.

Nisman had said the commission was intended to help get the arrest warrants dropped against the Iranian suspects as a step toward normalizing bilateral relations and opening the door to obtaining Iranian oil needed to help close Argentina’s $7 billion per year energy deficit.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-prosecutor-who-accused-kirchner-of-iran-plot-found-dead/feed/0Kirchner Cracks Down on Media Freedomhttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/kirchner-cracks-down-on-media-freedom/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/kirchner-cracks-down-on-media-freedom/#commentsTue, 20 Aug 2013 17:15:27 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=157315A supreme court ruling in Argentina is expected in the coming weeks over the limitation of media power, the Guardianreports.

Grupo Clarin, which controls 60 percent of the cable market and 25 percent of the Internet market, as well as TV channels, radio stations, and several papers, is fighting a law meant to limit its ownership.

The 2009 “Audiovisual Media Law” was introduced by President Cristina Kirchner.

Kirchner’s supporters say the move is designed to break up a dangerous monopoly, but critics challenge it as being a dictatorial attack on freedom of expression.

Lower and intermediate courts have issued conflicting judgments on the law, and the supreme court is now under intense pressure to give the final word. […]

Ricardo Kirschbaum, executive editor of Clarín newspaper, says the Kirchner administration (previously run by Cristina’s husband, Nestor) has always seen the media as something to co-opt or conquer.

“Nestor offered the oil business from Venezuela to the Clarín group in 2007. His goal was to draw Clarín towards his policies. But when he realised that we were not interested, the war began,” Kirschbaum told the Guardian.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/kirchner-cracks-down-on-media-freedom/feed/0Argentine President Cristina Kirchner to Skip AMIA Memorialhttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-president-cristina-kirchner-to-skip-amia-memorial/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-president-cristina-kirchner-to-skip-amia-memorial/#commentsWed, 17 Jul 2013 13:00:27 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=140626Argentine President Cristina Kirchner will reportedly skip the 19th anniversary memorial of the AMIA bombing on Thursday, in what analysts see as the latest troubling sign of the Argentine government’s increasing coziness with Tehran.

The Iranian government is suspected of plotting the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 and is considered the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history.

Kirchner will be out of the country meeting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos during Thursday’s memorial ceremony, the Buenos Aires Heraldreports. This would be the second year in a row that Kirchner did not attend the memorial.

“Kirchner skipping the AMIA commemoration is like President [Barack] Obama ignoring the 9/11 anniversary,” said American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Michael Rubin. “That she’s skipping it for the second time shows it’s no accident or coincidence. Jews are traditionally the canary in the coal mine, and in this case, the warning signs about Argentina couldn’t be clearer.”

Argentine federal prosecutors say the 1994 bombing was plotted by Iran and carried out by its terror proxy Hezbollah. Multiple former and current Iranian officials were placed on the Interpol wanted list in connection to the bombing.

Argentina’s relations with Iran have warmed immensely under the Kirchner administration. The Argentine government signed a deal with Iran in January to create a “truth commission” that will investigate the AMIA bombing, which will be staffed by jurists chosen jointly by the two governments.

Sources say that Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who heads the AMIA investigation, rankled the Kirchner administration in May when he released a 500-page report detailing the Iranian terror network’s infiltration of South America.

The Iranian foreign ministry also objected to the report and said it would not take the allegations seriously because of Nisman’s “Zionist character,” according to the Buenos Aires Herald.

The Argentine government barred earlier this month Nisman from attending and testifying at a U.S. House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on the Iranian threat in South America. A bipartisan House delegation called on Secretary of State John Kerry to reconsider aid to Argentina after the incident.

“It’s disturbing, in and of itself, that Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has decided, for the second year in a row, not to attend the AMIA Jewish community center’s memorial of the 1994 bombing,” said Robert Zarate, policy director at the Foreign Policy Initiative. “But what would be even more worrisome is if her decision not to attend—as well as her government’s decision last week to prevent Alberto Nisman, general prosecutor in the AMIA bombing—are motivated by a desire to strengthen Argentine-Iranian relations.”

In an English-language translation of a 2006 indictment filed by Nisman, two of the prosecution’s witnesses said Iran’s current president-elect Hassan Rowhani was on the special affairs committee in 1994 that approved the AMIA bombing, the Washington Free Beacon first reported in June.

Nisman quickly pushed back on the story, which had been picked up by the Argentine media, telling the Times of Israel, “There is no evidence, according to the AMIA case file, of the involvement of Hassan Rowhani in any terrorist attack.”

Nisman did not elaborate on whether this contradicted testimony from his witnesses placing Rowhani on the committee at the time the attack was approved.

The Free Beacon requested an interview with Nisman last month and was told by his office to email the prosecutor a list of Spanish-translated questions. Nisman did not respond to the questions and did not respond to the Free Beacon’s attempts to follow up.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/argentine-president-cristina-kirchner-to-skip-amia-memorial/feed/0House Lawmakers Ask John Kerry to Reconsider Argentinian Aidhttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/house-lawmakers-ask-john-kerry-to-reconsider-argentinian-aid/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/house-lawmakers-ask-john-kerry-to-reconsider-argentinian-aid/#commentsFri, 12 Jul 2013 16:40:13 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=138262A bipartisan delegation of House lawmakers have petitioned Secretary of State John Kerry to reconsider the level of aid given to Argentina following revelations that the Latin American country has opened it doors to Iran.

“We are particularly troubled by Argentina’s growing ties with Iran, utter contempt for U.S. law, growing corruption within its government, and repeated failure to met its financial obligations,” the lawmakers wrote on Thursday to Kerry, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

U.S. officials and regional experts warned earlier this week that under the leadership of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina has helped Iran bring its terrorist activities to the Western hemisphere.

“We are aware that the U.S. government has offered legal support to Argentina in the past,” according to the letter, which was also sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. “However, in light of Argentina’s growing cooperation with Iran … we believe that the U.S. should reconsider its legal support to Argentina.”

The matter has assumed “a new level of urgency” given Argentina’s increasing efforts to accommodate Iran, according to the letter.

U.S. officials and independent experts have cited Kirchner’s government for boosting trade with Iran by more than a billion dollars, as well as for allowing Iranian agents to move freely through the region, where they are suspected of smuggling weapons, money, and other goods.

“Any country that seeks to develop deeper ties with the world’s leading sponsor or terrorism needs to hear a very strong response from the U.S.,” the lawmakers wrote to Kerry. “We respectfully urge you to raise these issues in your discussions with Argentina and in your considerations of legal assistance to Argentina.”

The Kerry letter is another sign that Congress is concerned with Argentina’s rogue activities.

Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.) recently filed a resolution that would boot Argentina from the G-20 global summit as a result of its bad behavior.

House lawmakers on Wednesday petitioned the Department of Justice to stop helping Argentina deal with a lawsuit resulting from its failure to repay $81 billion in sovereign debt.

Argentinian General Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was prohibited by his government from testifying on Tuesday before Congress about the 1994 AMIA bombing, an Iranian-orchestrated terror plot known as one of the deadliest attacks in Argentina’s history.

The lawmakers cited this as proof that Kirchner’s regime is more interested in preserving its ties with Iran than exposing the truth about Tehran’s terrorist activities in Latin America.

“We were deeply troubled to learn shortly before the hearing that Argentina denied Nisman permission to testify before the U.S. Congress on the grounds that the hearing ‘has no relation to the official mission of the General Attorney’s Office,’” the lawmakers wrote.

“While we respect the sovereignty of Argentina, we believe this decision is disturbing and grossly inaccurate,” the letter states.

Kirchner recently announced that her government would partner with Iran to establish a so-called “Truth Commission” meant to find the truth about the AMIA bombing.

Most experts have described the commission a sham body that aims to falsely absolve Iran.

“Argentina’s decision to disallow Nisman from sharing his findings with the U.S. Congress is self destructive and indicative of deeper systemic problems within Argentina,” the lawmakers wrote. “President Fernandez de Kirchner’s agreements with Iran to establish the co-called ‘Truth Commission’ calls into question Argentina’s very credibility and legitimacy as a responsible member of the international community.”

“We find it extremely troubling that Argentina would be aiding and abetting any process designed to allow Iranian senior officials to rewrite history and disavow the finding from extensive judicial investigations and the indictment of Iranian senior officials for their role in the 1994 AMIA bombings,” the letter said.

The “Truth Commission” is not Argentina’s only joint project with Iran.

Trade between the two countries rose to $1.2 billion in 2011, making Argentina Iran’s second-largest trading partner.

This type of access has enabled Iran to build a complex “pipeline to move illicit products all across the region,” Joseph M. Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, said earlier this week.

Argentina also “may be seeking to aid Iran’s illicit nuclear weapons program through growing military ties with Venezuela and through the possible sharing of nuclear technology,” according to the lawmakers. “We understand that Argentina has recently filed a petition for a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court in a case stemming from that dispute, even though its leaders have vowed never to obey an U.S. court no matter what the ultimate outcome of its case.”

Iran has additionally opened up mining operations in several Latin American countries. Its goal is to find uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon, and other minerals that can help the regime build ballistic missiles.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/house-lawmakers-ask-john-kerry-to-reconsider-argentinian-aid/feed/0Kirchner Opens Door to Latin America for Iranhttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/kirchner-opens-door-to-latin-america-for-iran/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/kirchner-opens-door-to-latin-america-for-iran/#commentsTue, 09 Jul 2013 19:40:58 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=136213Argentina’s populist-socialist president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has allowed Iran to infiltrate its economic sector and potentially use the country as a terrorist launching pad, U.S. officials and multiple experts said on Tuesday.

Iranian agents have been permitted access to Latin America’s Free Trade Zones, which operate throughout the porous borders that separate Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, the terrorism experts testified before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency.

Iran has significantly boosted its diplomatic ties with Argentina and other socialist countries, a move that allows Iranian officials to circulate through the region, according to the experts and independent U.S. officials not present at the hearing.

Under Kirchner, Argentina has begun to export large amounts of food and agricultural products to feed its hungry population, which has suffered under Western sanctions, according to U.S. officials.

Iran also recently opened a joint chamber of commerce last year in Buenos Aires, according to the U.S. officials.

Exports from Argentina to Iran jumped from around $84 million in 2008 to some $1.2 billion in 2011, according to U.S. officials. Argentina is Iran’s second largest trading partner in the region, according to the intelligence officials.

As Tehran gains access to Latin America it has been able to build a complex “pipeline to move illicit products all across the region,”according to Joseph M. Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society.

These Latin American trade zones help Iran launder money and move people, military hardware, and other products throughout the region, Humire said.

The experts ultimately concluded that Iran has built a full-blown terror network that includes spies and senior military officials across Latin America, as socialist countries such as Argentina strengthen ties with Iran.

Iran has signed more than 500 trade and diplomatic agreements with a handful of Latin American countries over the past several years. The agreements are estimated to be worth some $40 billion dollars, experts said.

Iranian officials have said that it has 11 embassies and 17 cultural centers across Latin America, according to U.S. officials and expert Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council.

These diplomatic compounds and embassies have traditionally been used as a base for Iran’s Quds Force, which also is tied to Hezbollah, according to U.S. officials.

These agreements have allowed Iran to place its diplomats and military-backed businessmen throughout the region.

While Tehran claims to operate legitimate businesses and embassies, Iranian agents have quietly radicalized the indigenous populations and used their influence to procure illicit military hardware, according to Humire.

The expert testimony comes just a month after the State Department published a mostly classified report that concluded, “Iranian influence in Latin America and the Caribbean is waning.”

Lawmakers and experts rejected this conclusion, claiming that all available evidence indicates that Iran’s presence in the region has grown exponentially in recent years.

“I seriously question the administration’s judgment to [downplay] Iran’s presence at home,” Rep. Jeff Duncan (R., S.C.) said during the hearing, criticizing the Obama White House for neglecting to include “the input of our foreign allies across the region.”

Duncan said there is no way to be sure that Iran is not “smuggling people, drugs, and weapons through our porous southern border.”

“The overall conclusion was the influence is waning. That took me aback,” Humire said during a small press conference earlier in the day. “I really don’t see many indicators where you can say the influence is waning.”

Iran has actually built “a maze of subsidiaries all through the region that don’t just work in the defense industry but the private industry,” Humire said. “It hoodwinks these companies to work on” weapons technology and nuclear hardware.

Iran’s access to the transportation, mining, and shipping industries have “put a veil over Iran’s military program” and recruitment, Humire said.

From Venezuela to Bolivia and other socialist-oriented countries in the region, Iran has planted engineers, scientists, and private businessmen who are affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to Humire.

Iran “now [has] a military presence that is unprecedented in the region,” he said.

U.S. officials have further determined that Iran is funding a defense academy in Bolivia.

The academy, which is training various Latin American forces, was formally inaugurated last years by Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, according to the U.S. officials, who estimate that around 50 to 300 Iranian trainers are stationed in Bolivia.

Others warned that Iran is quickly building a network that extends to countries bordering North America.

“You’ll see that expansion is growing and getting closer to our southern borders,” said Walid Phares, a counterterrorism expert and Fox News commentator, during the morning press junket.

Iran has conducted several successful terrorist plots in the region dating back to the 1980s.

Senior Iranian officials in 1994 helped plan and carry out the deadly bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The AMIA attack is still under investigation in Argentina, where sources say Kirchner’s government has allowed Tehran to hijack the investigation in an attempt to cozy up to the regime.

The Argentinian government prohibited AMIA General Prosecutor Alberto Nisman from appearing before Congress Tuesday to discuss Iran’s growing power in the region.

Nisman has reported in the past that the “the AMIA bombing did not constitute an isolated event” and should “be investigated and understood as a segment in a larger sequence.”

An empty seat with a tag bearing Nisman’s name was set up in the House hearing room.

In addition to establishing embassies and other cultural centers, Iran has started mining operations to explore for uranium, the key element in a nuclear weapon, and other minerals that could be used to build weapons, according to the American Foreign Policy Council’s Berman.

U.S. officials have further determined that Iran is ramping up its mining efforts by providing both technical and engineering services, mainly in Venezuela and Bolivia.

]]>http://freebeacon.com/national-security/kirchner-opens-door-to-latin-america-for-iran/feed/0Lawmakers to Argentina: Allow Official to Testify on 1994 Terrorist Bombinghttp://freebeacon.com/national-security/lawmakers-to-argentina-allow-official-to-testify-on-1994-terrorist-bombing/
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/lawmakers-to-argentina-allow-official-to-testify-on-1994-terrorist-bombing/#commentsMon, 08 Jul 2013 22:20:19 +0000http://freebeacon.com/?p=135541Top House lawmakers have petitioned the Argentinian president to reverse a decision barring a senior government prosecutor from testifying before the U.S. Congress about Iran’s role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s government refused to permit General Prosecutor Alberto Nisman from testifying in the United States about the 1994 AMIA bombing, an Iranian-orchestrated terror plot known as one of the deadliest attacks in Argentina’s history.

The lawmakers expressed “deep concern” over Kirchner’s decision, warning that it demonstrates a willingness to do damage control on behalf of the Iranian regime, which has significantly boosted its presence in Latin America.

“The decision to deny authorization for Mr. Nisman to testify before the U.S. Congress does call into question the authenticity of your intentions, and we are deeply disturbed,” McCaul and Duncan wrote to Kirchner on July 3, ahead of a hearing scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon this week.

“We respectfully request that you reconsider this issue in light of regional security interests and allow Mr. Nisman to share with members of Congress the results of his work,” the lawmakers wrote.

Nisman was invited to share his findings about Iran’s role in the AMIA bombing and discuss Tehran’s growing influence in the Western hemisphere, particularly in places such as Argentina and Venezuela.

“Mr. Nisman was invited to share the findings from his October 2006 and May 2013 investigations into the AMIA bombings, which placed responsibility for the attacks on the highest authorities within the Government of Iran,” the lawmakers wrote. “ Furthermore, his investigation underscored a critical issue to U.S. homeland security, showing that Iran was “the main sponsor” of an attempted attack in June 2007 on American soil to blow up John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport in Queens, N.Y.”

Nisman informed McCaul that he was not permitted to attend the hearing on July 9.

Nisman said that senior government officials told him the Congressional hearing “has no relation to the official mission of the General Attorney’s Office, and, therefore, under those grounds, the permission was denied by the highest Argentine competent authority with legally binding capacity to provide the needed endorsement to allow my testimony before the authorities of a foreign country.”

McCaul said in a statement that Kirchner’s government is preventing Congress from learning the full extent of Iran’s presence in the Western hemisphere.

Nisman’s investigation into the AMIA bombing “shows that the Iranian presence in the Western Hemisphere is greater than we imagined,” McCaul said. “Iranian infiltration within countries in our region presents a clear and present danger to our homeland, as do attempts to silence or downplay this threat, and Mr. Nisman’s testimony should be heard.”

Duncan also condemned Argentina’s action.

“Argentina’s decision to deny Nisman permission to share his findings publicly sends a troubling message and is deeply disturbing to regional security and U.S. homeland security,” the lawmaker said in a statement.

Argentinian and Jewish observers have cited Kirchner for downplaying the AMIA investigation in an attempt to placate the Iranian regime.

“Argentina’s president is undermining her own country’s prosecutors, who have for several years tried to pursue the suspected perpetrators,” an Argentinian newspaper opinion editor Fabian Bosoer and New School associate professor Federico Finchelstein wrote in a March New York Times op-ed. “Many observers have denounced Mrs. Kirchner for giving Iran a free pass.”

Iran’s presence in the region has grown in recent years.

Iran has laundered billions of dollars through Venezuela over the years and used the country as a base to plot terror attacks.

The Iranian terror proxy group Hezbollah is also believed to operate freely in the region, where it frequently partners with drug traffickers.